Joel Chapter
One
(http://spiritualbiblestudies.com)
(Verse Ten)
“The field is wasted, the land
mourneth; for the corn is
wasted: the new wine is dried
up, the oil languisheth.”
Joel 1:1-9 In
Review:
1 - ¶The word of the LORD
that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 - Hear this, ye old
men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days,
or even in the days of your fathers?
3 - Tell ye your
children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children
another generation.
4 - That which the
palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left
hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the
caterpiller eaten.
5 - Awake, ye
drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine;
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 - For a nation is
come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of
a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7 - He hath laid my
vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it
away; the branches thereof are made white.
8 - ¶Lament like a
virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 - The meat offering
and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the
LORD'S ministers, mourn.
God’s Creation Is Designed With The Gospel Story In
View
Thus far from verse
four and onward God has given us various spiritual descriptions of the final
silencing of the Word of God. On and on
God paints a portrait utilizing many metaphors, allegories, and symbols in
which to demonstrate to us, through the common cycle of nature, that which is
to befall the truth of God’s Word (the Gospel of Jesus Christ) in these last
and final days. Why does God depict the
complex yet simplicity of nature in which to portray much of His Word? Could it be relative to the fact that God’s
Kingdom, in part, is depicted in Scripture as a garden of budding lush green
vegetation? It is also depicted in part as a forest and a
fruitful field (Isaiah 10:18). Jesus
Christ is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley, Song of Songs
2:1. He is the branch (Zechariah 3:8),
and we as believers are His branches.
Christ the Messiah is the vine, and we as believers are again His branches:
“I
am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing,” John 15:5.
Christ is the Tree
of Life (Revelation 22:14), and we as His elect are the trees of the field, Isaiah
55:12. God symbolizes His elect in many metaphorical
ways and correlates them to the foliage and vegetation of His created earth. One such description of the believer is an orchard
of pomegranates, Song of Songs 4:13. Those
whom Christ died for are categorized in many different figurative ways. The Word of God is depicted as the corn of
heaven: “And had rained down manna upon
them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven,” Psalms 78:24. Believers are in one sense viewed by God as
the corn of the valleys: “The pastures
are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they
also sing,” Psalms 65:13.
“They that dwell under his shadow shall
return; they shall revive as the corn,
and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of
God’s true children
are liken to an olive tree and olive plants:
“But
I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever,” Psalm 52:8.
“Thy
wife shall be as a fruitful vine
by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table,” Psalm 128:3.
This is salvation
language and God portrays His creation throughout Scripture in many varying
ways, one being a vineyard. Grapes are
yet another portrait of God’s people as are the figs of His fig tree:
“I
found
The Field Is Wasted
(Joel 1:10a)
Over and over again
God uses the earthly cycle of nature in which to display much of His Word.
Plalm 107:31-37 -
31 - Oh that men would praise the LORD
for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
32 - Let them exalt him also in the
congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
33 - ¶He turneth rivers into a
wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
34 - A fruitful land into barrenness, for
the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
35 - He turneth the wilderness into a standing
water, and dry ground into watersprings.
36 - And there he maketh the hungry to
dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation;
<While
it is true that God turns the literal and physical fruitful lands of the earth into
barrenness (verse 34) because of the wickedness of man; yet these verses
most definitely hold a higher spiritual meaning.>
37 - And sow the fields, and plant vineyards,
which may yield fruits of increase.
<God
also grants the gift of successful crops in the natural world. However, God utilizes these earthly portraits
of man’s labor in the fields
to depict the sowing and reaping of His eternal WORD. Here in verse 37 we read that God sows the
fields, and plants the vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. Ultimately we are to interpret these verses spiritually
in accordance to God’s Word, and not strictly in relation to the literal fields
and crops of the earth.>
God sows the fields
and plants the vineyards that yield the fruits of His increase, the above verse
37 tells us. Jesus confirms these Godly
metaphors many times. For example:
“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and
then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on
the fields; for they are white
already to harvest,” John 4:35.
Was Christ speaking
to His disciples about an upcoming harvest?
Certainly now. Christ was
speaking of the need for a spiritual harvest of souls. The very next verse gives us the proof:
“And
he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal:
that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together,” John 4:36.
Christ indeed came to earth to begin the harvest
of souls. Without the crucifixion,
death, and resurrection of Christ the Messiah, there would be no harvest of
souls. The fields were ready for harvest
and this harvest of the fields continues on throughout the New Testament Age. This field
represents the world in general and is not
confined to the following parable only:
“The
field is the world;
the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children
of the wicked one,” Matthew 13:38.
Joel 1:10 tells us that the “FIELD” is wasted!
What a horrible and terrible statement this surely is. In other words most hope of eternal salvation
is gone. This is indeed GREAT TRIBULATION, Matthew
24:21!
“And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing,
neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in
their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease,” Isaiah
16:10.
Scripture has much
to say concerning the cutting off of the Gospel of Life. In the above
verse of Isaiah, 16:10 God tells us that “gladness”
is taken away. Are we to understand this
as simply saying that a few good times may not be so joyous? No indeed!
Gladness is taken away and out of the plentiful FIELD. There shall be no
singing nor shouting for joy. There will
be no wine to be had. Wine, we know, is
a figure of the shed blood of Christ and therefore the Gospel of
Salvation. The shouting of the vintage
will cease. Let us cross reference this one thought with Revelation 18:23:
“And the light of a candle shall shine no more <cease> at all in
thee; and the voice of the bridegroom <Christ> and of the bride
<church> shall be heard no more
<cease> at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the
earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.”
Much of Revelation
chapter eighteen echoes the Book of Joel, since the theme of both is the
cutting off of the Word of God.
Gladness and Joy is Salvation
When Scripture
tells us that “the field is wasted” and “gladness and joy is taken away” - “out
of the plentiful field” we can determine from God’s Word alone that this is
speaking of eternal salvation. In Isaiah
16:10 the word gladness is translated as:
joy, joyfulness, pleasure, mirth, rejoice, rejoiced, rejoicing,
exceeding, and exceedingly.
“And
the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to
<This
joy and this gladness is something that is yet indescribable or
at best partially indescribable in this present life, nonetheless it is
descriptive of one’s eternal salvation; for the passage continues with “sorrow
and sighing shall flee away.”
Salvation brings indescribable joy and gladness; something that the
world knows nothing of, nor can they since it is spiritual, 1 Corinthians
2:14. At the resurrection of the
last day sorrow and sighing for the true believers shall surely flee away. When one becomes a child of God, i.e. being
born again, it is great joy and gladness, however we still wrestle with flesh
and blood and we continue to dwell with physical sorrow and sighing. Therefore the ultimate gladness that
scripture speaks of is certainly our inheritance with Christ in the new heaven
and the new earth. What horror to think
that the prospect of this joy and gladness will one day be taken from this plentiful field called Earth. It will NOT
be taken from the believer, of course, but it will be lifted from the earth,
that unsaved man will no longer to able to reap the spiritual benefits of
eternal salvation. What great
tribulation this will be once the field is ultimately wasted!>
“Thy
words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing <# 8057: same Hebrew word used in Isaiah
16:10 for ‘gladness’> of mine
heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts,” Jeremiah 15:16.
“Thou
hast put gladness <Strong’s
Hebrew # 8057 - same as ‘gladness’ in Isaiah 16:10> in
my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased,” Psalm 4:7.
“The
hope of the righteous shall be gladness:
<Strong’s Hebrew # 8057 -
same as in Isaiah 16:10> but the expectation of the wicked shall perish,” Proverbs 12:28.
“Thou
wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; <Strong’s # 8057 - same
as gladness in Isaiah 16:10> at thy right hand there are pleasures
for evermore,” Psalm 16:11.
The above
references are but a sampling only of how Scripture uses the words joy and gladness as symbols or adjectives in depicting eternal
salvation. We are not saying that every
use of these words represent eternal salvation; one must read and study the
context in which they are used. In
Isaiah 16:10 (page 3) God tells us that joy and gladness is taken out of the
plentiful field. When we look at the
word “joy” in this particular
verse we see that it is recorded in Strong’s Hebrew as # 1524 and defined as: gladness,
joy or rejoicing. It carries a
similar meaning as gladness in the same verse of Isaiah. Let us cite a few verses that use this same
word (# 1524) as it applies
to eternal salvation.
“Then
will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: <Strong’s # 1524 - same as “joy” in Isaiah 16:10> yea, upon the
harp will I praise thee, O God my God,” Psalm
43:4.
“With
gladness and rejoicing <Strong’s
# 1524 - same as “joy” in
Isaiah 16:10> shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's
palace,” Psalm 45:15.
“Thou
crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the
wilderness: and the little hills rejoice
<Strong’s # 1524 - same as
“joy” in Isaiah 16:10> on every side,” Psalm
65:11-12.
NOTE: We have just quoted
from verses eleven and twelve of Psalm chapter sixty-five. This chapter carries much in the way of
interpreting symbols of God’s Word. It
would behoove all to take a closer look at these thirteen verses, for in so
doing one will find confirmation in God choosing us (verse 4); God’s spiritual
blessings are His courts (verse 4); by
God’s strength was this earth fastened (verse 6); the seas and the waves are peoples of the
earth (verse 7); the river of God spiritually cares for God’s children (verse
9); God’s blessings drop upon the pastures of the wilderness (the fields) and the little hills (congregations?) rejoice on every side, (verse 12). Lastly the pastures (fields) are clothed with
flocks, (believers) and the valleys are covered with corn (believers) … they
shout for joy, and sing, (verse
13). The only flocks and corn that can
possibly sing are the believers themselves!
They shout for JOY - the JOY of their salvation.
In returning to our
study of Joel 1:10, we are looking at the field being wasted. We have quoted from Isaiah 16:10 and have seen
that gladness and joy (eternal salvation) will one day be taken out from among
this plentiful field that we know is the earth.
We have briefly examined these two words joy and gladness
from Isaiah 16:10 and know without doubt that they represent eternal
salvation. This can be confirmed through
many other passages in Scripture.
“And joy
and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the
.
Throughout
Scripture God uses literal and historic occurrences to denote spiritual
truths. From the above verse we know
that the
“And
the disciples were filled with joy,
and with the Holy Ghost,” Acts13:52.
ҦNow
the God of hope fill you with all joy
and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the
Holy Ghost,” Romans 15:13.
ҦAgain,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a
man hath found, he hideth, and for joy
thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field,” Matthew 13:44.
“Make
me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou
hast broken may rejoice,” Psalm 51:8.
“And
he brought forth his people with
joy, and his chosen with gladness,”
Psalm 105:43
“And
the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to
“The
voice of joy, and the voice
of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say,
Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for
ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of
the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the
first, saith the LORD,” Jeremiah
33:11.
These are but a few
references that depict joy
and gladness hand in hand
with eternal salvation. Our study in
Joel 1:10 tells us that the field is
wasted. As we looked into this
field we found it to also transcend into a plentiful field; one that contained
joy and gladness. The plentiful field is
the earth wherein each person who obtains eternal salvation through Christ
Jesus is liken to joy and gladness within this field.
Christ is the
narrow way and the ONLY WAY into
God’s eternal house; all others are thieves and robbers, John 10:8. God’s one
and only true Messiah is the only way into Heaven. This Messiah does not teach nor condone worldly
aspirations such as crusades of human
killing in the name of God. The true
Messiah does not teach utter foolishness such as killing Americans or
Westerners for his sake. The true Messiah
is not of this world; He does not teach hate your enemy, but love your enemies! Who can truly receive this command? Certainly not many in the
“Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance:
behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.” (Isaiah 40:15)
That’s right! God is not interested in the affairs of any
particular nation, including the nation of
“But
ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light,” 1 Peter
2:9.
God is interested
in the affairs of men, in light of His salvation provisions. As the nations of the earth go, He counts
them merely as dust. Do we hear this
from the pulpits of today? Quite the
contrary we hear the opposite. Droves of
church goers fill tens of thousands of churches each week with conjoining worship
of both God and the cunning image of the beast.
But Christ tells us if we are not with Him, then we are against Him,
Matthew 12:30. There is no middle ground
in which to flee.
As we read from Joel
1:10 concerning the field being wasted, we know that this entails the joy and
gladness being cut off. This is not
merely physical joy and gladness but is a metaphoric reference to salvation
being taken from the earth. Though we
have not yet studied Joel 1:16, we yet find a confirmation there to what we are
teaching.
“Is
not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness
from the house of our God?” Joel 1:16.
Joy and gladness is
cut off from the house of our God…before our eyes! This indeed is depicting salvation as it is
withdrawn from the earth. Once it is
taken from the house of our God, it is not to be found in the plentiful field
of the earth. It is horrific tribulation
in every sense; what could be worse? The
world will not even be aware of this; sadly that is how utterly destitute they
are. Call upon the Lord now while there may still be time!
The Land Moureth
The field is wasted
and the land moureth, Joel 1:10 tells us.
This is another way in which God uses varying phrases in which to depict
a particular event. This is the style
that God utilizes many times throughout the scriptures. The phrase land moureth is a term that we are ultimately to define as
pertaining to the spiritual well being of our souls. Notice in the following three verses that the
word “land” is used in conjunction with the word “salvation.”
Psalms 85:9 - Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell
in our land.
Isaiah 26:1 - ¶In that day shall this song be sung
in the
Isaiah 60:18 - Violence shall no more be heard in
thy land, wasting nor
destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
Clearly there is a
highly spiritual meaning to much of Scripture.
We cannot deny that in Isaiah 26:1 God likens the walls of His city to
salvation. In Isaiah 60:18 God labels
the gates of His city to “praise.” God’s
eternal city is a spiritual one; one in which we cannot measure in earthly terms.
When we read in
Joel 1:10 that the land moureth, what land is God speaking of? The
Jeremiah 33:15 - In those days, and at that time,
will I cause the Branch of
righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and
righteousness in the land.
<The
Branch of Righteousness is of course Christ and He is the Anointed One who
executes judgment and righteousness in the land. And again what land it this? It is not merely Old Testament
Isaiah 60:21 - Thy people also shall be all righteous:
they shall inherit the land for
ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be
glorified.
<Those
who become eternally saved are righteous only because Christ is righteous and our
righteousness is as filthy rags were it not for Christ bestowing His
righteousness upon us. That being said,
the children of God will inherit the LAND
for ever. This spiritual land can never
be taken from us. Again, what exactly is
this land representative of? In eternity
it is our eternal bliss with God the Father.
On this earth this land is our hope and our foundation that we
stand upon. In one sense, the
Where
else do we find language that speaks of the land mourning? We find two references in the Book of
Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 12:7-11 -
Verse 7 - ¶I have forsaken mine house, I have
left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand
of her enemies.
<A
time when God forsook His house. Whether
this occurred at various times in relation to ancient
Verse 8 - Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the
forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.
<God’s
church (not the true believers, but the tares within His church) in the end
will betray Him as did Judas, but this time on a global scale.>
Verse 9 - Mine heritage is unto me as a
speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the
beasts of the field, come to devour.
<The
gates of hell cannot destroy the true spiritual
Verse 10 - Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my
portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
<Is
this not what we see in today’s churches?>
Verse 11 - They have made it desolate,
and being desolate it mourneth
unto me; the whole land is
made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.
<Christ’s
outward Church is made desolate! God
tells us in this verse that the land MOURNETH
and is desolate. Isn’t this precisely
what Joel 1:10 tells us? Yes, of course
it is.
We find further
mentioning of the land mourning in Jeremiah chapter twenty-three.
Jeremiah 23:9-10-
Verse 9 - ¶Mine heart within me is broken because
of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man
whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his
holiness.
Verse 10 - For the land is full of adulterers; for
because of swearing the land mourneth;
the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil,
and their force is not right.
<The
pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up!
What are these pleasant places if not the once faithful congregations or
churches of Christ? Yes, these once
faithful churches of the world have and/or are drying up. God will withdraw His Spirit from His global
churches one day, no doubt. Perhaps
there will be trickles of home churches or fellowship groups - the underground
church - but as for the organized denominations, the time is fast approaching
when they will be desolate of any real spiritual help. Perhaps the time is even now. “The pleasant
places of the wilderness are dried up,” Jeremiah 23:10 tells
us. Joel 1:10 tells us that the new wine is dried up. What is the difference between pleasant
places and new wine, if they are both to dry up? The pleasant
places are the places where the new
wine was once preached. When the
wine dries up, so do the pleasant places.>
The Corn is Wasted
“
<Corn
is one of the more difficult symbols to associate with salvation, but it does
appear to picture to Gospel and goes hand in hand with the spiritual metaphor
of wine being symbolized as the atonement of Christ.>
“For
how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids,” Zechariah 9:17.
Without
going into a study of 2 Kings 18,
let us just affirm that the passage below is a statement made by the king of
Assyria; a non Godly king in rebuke of
Those
words from the king of
“Until
I come and take you away to a land like
your own land, a land of corn and
wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil
olive and of honey, that
ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto
Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us,” 2 Kings 18:32.
<A
land LIKE your own land? Is this not the final ambition of Satan? Of course it is. God says of Satan in Isaiah 14:14 “I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
The king of
An
interesting footnote to this Old Testament account is Hezekiah’s reaction to
the words of the king of
“And
they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble,
and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the
birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.”
The
children have come for the birth,
but there is no strength to bring forth.
Were King Hezekiah’s words a prophecy of the great tribulation at the
end of time? They certainly appear to
be. The momentum of spiritual deception
intensifies as the world plunges further into spiritual darkness and the time
of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy. The
miracle of the new birth in
Christ Jesus appears to have greatly subsided in past years and it seems as
though there is little or no strength remaining of the Holy Spirit with which
to bring forth the new birth or to say it in another way: the born again experience
is rapidly becoming extinct. We are not
stating that Christ is no longing saving souls; no human can say for certain
either way. We are simply comparing
Scripture with Scripture and examining what God seems to be teaching for these
final days. Scripture appears clear that
the Holy Spirit will not always be with man (2 Thessalonians 2:7) and we may now
be near or at that point wherein the field
(world) is wasted; the land
(church) mourns; the corn
(Gospel/believers) is wasted; the new
wine (atonement of Christ; Gospel) is dried up; and the oil (Holy Spirit) languishes. This is not blasphemy; it is a careful search
and comparison of God’s Word. We may not
have reached this point as yet so pray that the day of salvation will continue
in accordance with God’s will. Those who
reject this notion are simply but blindly stating “smile, God loves you” and
will go on their merry ways believing most everything the congregations of Assyria tell them to believe.>
The new wine
is dried up
In our study of Joel
1:10 we read that in addition to the corn being wasted, the new wine is dried
up. Both symbols appear to speak
ultimately of the precious words of Christ being not merely diluted in these
final days but silenced as well.
“The field is wasted, the
land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new
wine is dried up, the oil languisheth,” Joel 1:10.
Recall what we read
of new wine in verse five of
our study.
“Awake, ye drunkards, and
weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth,” Joel 1:5.
Many people today
are under the illusion that God will always be here for us and take it for
granted without a second thought. For
those who know the Word of God and teach the truth - that God will in these
final days remove His Spirit from among the earth - will be, and are, labeled as
heretics. Scripture is drenched with this
doctrine that God will remove His Spirit from among men in these last
days. Those who insist on listening to
their pastors without studying God’s Word do not stand much of a chance in
these deceiving times.
Isaiah
24:11 - There
is a crying for wine in the streets;
all joy is darkened,
the mirth <joy> of the
land is gone.
<Gone!
Ceased! For no man buyeth their merchandise any more, Revelation 18:11. What merchandise?
“And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments,
and frankincense, and wine,
and oil, and fine flour, and wheat [corn], and beasts, and
sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men,” Revelation 18:13.>
END OF STUDY